Current Review of Star Trek Online

TOG Score

Members (av.)

The Good

Graphics * Customization * Storyline * Space Combat * It’s Star Trek

The Bad

Ground Combat could use some work but it is getting better

Space, the final frontier. These are your own voyages. Your mission, to boldly go where no MMO has gone before.
Overview
Star Trek Online is an MMO created by Cryptic Studios that places you in command of your own starship right from the beginning. The game takes place in the Star Trek Universe created by Gene Roddenberry in 1968. Your missions take place in the 25th century (The future of Star Trek) in which much turmoil is occurring. The Federation is again at battle with the Klingons. We continue to be enemies of the Cardassians and the Romulans. The Borg are still a menace and many more enemies to add.
When you first begin your journey in STO you must play as a member of the Federation but when you reach level 6 you can choose to join the Klingon Defense force.
As Captain of a starship (Or battle cruiser on the Klingon side) you are in control of the actions of your crew. You get to select your bridge officers and control them during space missions and ground missions. You choose your career field from the three selections - Engineer, Tactical and Science plus you get to choose the type of starship or battle cruiser you command which gives you different play style from defense, repair or offense.
Monthly cost
United States of America and Oceania
Per Month Total
1-Month 14.99 USD 14.99 USD
3-Month 13.99 USD 41.97 USD
6-Month 12.99 USD 77.94 USD
Lifetime 299.99 USD
Canada
1-Month 16.49 CAD 16.49 CAD
3-Month 15.39 CAD 46.17 CAD
6-Month 14.29 CAD 85.73 CAD
Lifetime- 343.74 CAD
United Kingdom
1-Month 8.99 GBP 10.56 GBP
3-Month 8.39 GBP 28.95 GBP
6-Month 7.69 GBP 53.06 GBP
Lifetime 192.49 GBP
Europe
1-Month 12.99 EUR 14.94 EUR
3-Month 11.99 EUR 41.37 EUR
6-Month 10.99 EUR 75.83 EUR
Lifetime 218.74 EUR
Denmark
1-Month 82.45 DKK 94.82 DKK
3-Month 76.95 DKK 265.47 DKK
6-Month 71.45 DKK 492.97 DKK
Lifetime 1625.00 DKK

Customization
With STO you get to choose your race from many of the Star Trek universe species or create your very own alien race. You get to choose your uniform style of yourself and your bridge officers (BO) , plus you can change the design of your ship. And as you advance in grade you get a new ship and yet again you get to customize this. You can have many different uniforms or off duty uniforms.
Also in upcoming updates it has been mentioned about users being able to create missions and content.
Controls
Movement on the ground is primarily handled through the Q, W, E, A, S, and D keys.
W -Move the Player Forward
A -Turn the player Left
S -Move the Player Backwards
D -Turn the player Right
Q -Strafe Left
E -Strafe Right
You can also issue commands to your away team which consists usually of 4 other members of your crew which you get to choose prior to the beginning of each mission.
Controls in Sector Space and in System are similar to controls when on the ground:
W - Tilt the ship’s nose down
A - Turn the player left
S - Tilt the ship’s nose up
D - Turn the ship right
Q -Throttle up
E -Throttle down
ProgessionWhen you first begin STO you are at the rank of Ensign. This may sound strange to captain a ship at the rank of ensign but the story line gives reasons for this as you progress through the beginning missions. As you advance in the game you gain rank which unlocks new skills. Players advance in Star Trek Online using Skill Points. You will receive Skill Points for completing quests, earning accolades and defeating your enemies. Players will advance through seven Ranks, from Lieutenant to Vice Admiral throughout the course of the game, and each rank contains 10 grades (i.e. Lieutenant grades 1-10, Lieutenant Commander grades 1-10). You will spend the skill points which will give you abilities or advance your abilities. You also earn skill points for your main officers which you distribute through them as you choose.
Klingons
If you decide to join the Klingon defense force you will find it geared more towards PVP. They have introduced some PVE content in the recent patches and plan on introducing more. The interface and controls are the same, and progression is the same (Ranks are titled differently of course)
Crafting
Crafting in Star Trek Online is done a bit differently than in many other MMORPGs. Instead of manufacturing or creating items yourself using base ingredients, you instead upgrade purchased or looted items using Data Samples primarily collected from anomalies in space and on ground missions. If you have the item to be upgraded and sufficient data samples in your inventory, you can use the research stations in Memory Alpha to fabricate an upgraded item.
The crafting system is skill based; you gain skill points by fabricating upgraded items. As your skill levels increase, you gain access to more upgrades and higher tiers. There are seven skills in tree tier groupings:
• general applies to Mk II items,
• specialized skills apply to Mk IV and Mk VI items,
• advanced skills apply to Mk VII and above items.
You can unlock the specialized skills if you have 500 points in the general skill and can unlock an advanced skill if you have 500 points in the appropriate specialty. In both cases, you need to speak with the appropriate NPC in Memory Alpha.
The specialized and advances skills relate roughly to the three officer classes:
• Energy Field R&D is Engineering officer oriented,
• Physical Sciences R&D is Science officer oriented,
• Technology R&D is Tactical officer oriented.
Sometimes the same item can be upgraded by more than one specialty.
You open a research station by double clicking it or choosing the “Research and Development” action; this opens up the station window. The window has a tab for each specialty; this shows a list of possible upgrades. Each entry shows the upgraded item, the data samples and item needed as input, the number of skill points earned, and if the item is greyed out, the minimum skill level required.
If the number of each input sample and item is white, you can click “Fabricate” to upgrade the item. However, if any of the numbers are red, you need to go collect more; fortunately there are NPCs in each room eager to sell up upgradeable items at only slightly more than normal prices (they also are stingy when buying items from you).
When upgrading items the data samples and other items can be in your bank. It is not necessary to have them in your inventory when using a research station.
Conclusion
Star Trek Online has much to offer. You can immerse yourself in the Star Trek universe, visit many of the worlds you saw in the Star Trek series and movies. Encounter and interact with many of the familiar races you know. You can play Dabo at Quarks bar on Deep Space 9 or visit the planet of Risa and relax.
The game does have it’s faults. Some have said they do not like the ground combat, or others have said the game needs more content (they are working on this with the weekly episodes) others have said it is too easy (This was fixed with the difficulty slider). But if you look at other MMO’s they had a rocky start too. I feel this game has great potential and Cryptic is working on it to make it a great game.
So with that said Join us in Star Trek Online, and boldly go where no one has gone before!

Member reviews

I have picked up this title about 3 months and its a blast, not really a trekkie but an avid space combat fan, and it does not dissapoint you when it comes to space dog fights, the ground combat is little to be desired but there improving on it, have a go if your a trekkie or a space combat junkie. Whats not to like commanding your own star crusier against the klingons, Romulans and even the Borgs.
Visual wise its stunning game on max settings, where you can zoom in and zoom out
5/5 Stars i give this.

I played through the Beta and for a couple of months afterwards and to be honest
it does not sounds like they have made many improvements (if any) to the ground combat.
Though the space combat is fun for a while the endless circling and clicking gets a bit boring.
Without a hint of any improvement it is not worth £9.00 per month

There is one major floor with Star Trek.....
its a Cryptic Game.
If I was a game design teacher, I would give Cryptic a 65%-70% pass on every game it has ever done. Passable but there is never any 'wow' factor, or spirit in it... at least none that permeats to me the player.
The other loss of percentage points would be for plagerism ( using the same front end loaders for EVERYTHING ), and same graphic style too.
Just bland, bland, bland all around. Out of all their games though, I think STOL had/has the most potential for success and something new.
Im just done with Cryptic.